AS a party for Muslims and Bumiputeras, Umno and its struggles remained relevant in Sabah, state Wanita Umno chief Jainab Ahmad said, today. 

She said the women’s wing had accepted Umno’s changed position as the opposition in Sabah, and that they would work even harder now to win back the voters.

Jainab dismissed talk that Umno would vanish from Sabah after the losses of the May 9 general election, as the party was originally derived from United Sabah National Organisation (Usno), the party led by former chief minister the late Mustapha Datu Harun. 

“We will fight for Sabah autonomy and the party members’ right to express their views without  the consent of  thecentral leadership and Peninsular Malaysia leaders  

“We also want to fight for the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” she said after the state women’s wing meeting at the Umno Sabah building in Kota Kinabalu, today. 

She said the Wanita wing would have to work smarter as well as harder as Umno finances had been frozen. 

She said the wing now had the responsibility of maintaining Umno’s presence in Sabah in defiance of the general view that Umno was a sinking ship that its partners were abandoning.

“Wanita Umno remains loyal to Umno. Of course, we have noticed many Barisan Nasional leaders abandoning the party in the less than 100 days we have been the opposition. But Wanita Umno will stay on.” 

Jainab, who was formerly the Karambunai assemblyman, believed Umno, which had over 500,000 members statewide, could have won the general election if not for the party in-fighting. – August 13, 2018.